The teams play in stadiums with bleachers on just one side of the field. They play in towns with as many stoplights as Dairy Queens. And, the thought is, all the talent on the field is inferior as compared to those teams that play on fancy artificial turf in front of thousands of fans.

Perhaps the jokers with their snide comments should step onto the Ben Bolt High School campus on national signing day Feb. 2 to have their doubts put to rest.

On that day, only a handful of football players in the Coastal Bend will sign full college football scholarships, and Badgers quarterback Aaron Bueno will be among that group. In fact, he may be the biggest catch of them all.

Although he’s gotten letters and calls from schools all across the country and drawn particular heavy interest from Division I schools New Mexico State and BYU, Bueno already has taken an official visit to Texas A&M-Kingsville and says staying close to home sounds pretty good.

“I haven’t made a decision, but I’m just not too sure about going all the way to (BYU or New Mexico State),” Bueno said. “You could say I’m leaning toward Kingsville.”

It’s hard to get Division I scouts to take a look at Class 1A quarterbacks, but Bueno’s numbers were hard to ignore. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Bueno threw for 2,652 yards and rushed for 1,440 yards. He completed 145 of 216 passes with 25 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. He also ran for 25 touchdowns.

Those numbers not only earned him the Caller-Times’ All-South Texas MVP award, but he also was named the Class 1A all-state offensive player of the year by the Texas Associated Press Sports Editors.

It was a magical year for Bueno full of games with box scores that looked like something out of EA Sports. He had the best rushing game of anyone in South Texas when he ran for 322 yards on 19 carries in a win at La Villa in October. Two weeks before that, he had the best passing night in South Texas, throwing for 492 yards in a win at Shiner.

“I guess coming from a smaller town, people might be surprised at the stats,” Bueno said. “People don’t known a lot about Ben Bolt, and it’s a small town, so I guess that’s why people are surprised.”